Resource selection and prioritization of sidelink positioning operations

ABSTRACT

Sidelink (SL) positioning of user equipments (UEs) is supported by assigning priority values to SL positioning operations, e.g., transmission or reception of SL positioning reference signals (PRS). The priority value, for example, may be (pre-)configured or provided to the physical (PHY) layer from higher layers. The UE selects resources for the SL positioning operations based on at least the priority value. The UE may reserve resources for the SL positioning operations, for example, using Layer 1 (L1) and/or Layer 2 (L2) control operations or by transmitting an indication that other UEs are to avoid using the resources. The priority values for the SL positioning operations may be used to resolve in-device conflicts, such as when the SL positioning operations conflict with other sidelink or non-sidelink operations.

BACKGROUND Field

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to wireless communications systems, and more particularly to systems, methods, and devices that support positioning.

Relevant Background

Wireless communication systems are widely deployed to provide various telecommunication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, positioning, and broadcasts. Typical wireless communication systems may employ multiple-access technologies capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing available system resources (e.g., bandwidth, transmit power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include fourth generation (4G) systems such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) systems, or LTE-A Pro systems, and fifth generation (5G) systems which may be referred to as New Radio (NR) systems.

In some examples, a wireless multiple-access communication system may include a number of base stations, each simultaneously supporting communication for multiple communication devices, otherwise known as user equipment (UEs). In LTE or LTE-A network, a set of one or more base stations may define an e NodeB (eNB). In other examples (e.g., in a next generation or 5G network), a wireless multiple access communication system may include a number of distributed units (DUs) (e.g., edge units (EUs), edge nodes (ENs), radio heads (RHs), smart radio heads (SRHs), transmission reception points (TRPs), etc.) in communication with a number of central units (CUs) (e.g., central nodes (CNs), access node controllers (ANCs), etc.), where a set of one or more distributed units, in communication with a central unit, may define an access node (e.g., a new radio base station (NR BS), a new radio node-B (NR NB), a network node, 5G NB, gNB, etc.). A base station or DU may communicate with a set of UEs on downlink channels (e.g., for transmissions from a base station or to a UE) and uplink channels (e.g., for transmissions from a UE to a base station or distributed unit). Additionally, UEs may communicate directly with each other using sidelink channels.

The location of UE may be useful or essential to a number of applications including emergency calls, navigation, direction finding, asset tracking and Internet service. The location of a UE may be estimated based on information gathered from various systems. In a cellular network implemented according to LTE or 5G NR, for example, a base station may send downlink reference signals with which positioning measurements are performed by a UE and/or the UE may send uplink reference signals with which positioning measurements are performed by the base stations. The UE may compute an estimate of its own location using the positioning measurements in UE-based positioning or may send the positioning measurements to a network entity, e.g., location server, which may compute the UE location based on the positioning measurements in UE-assisted positioning. Support for sidelink positioning is desirable.

SUMMARY

Sidelink (SL) positioning of user equipments (UEs) is supported by assigning priority values to SL positioning operations, e.g., transmission or reception of SL positioning reference signals (PRS). The priority value, for example, may be (pre-)configured or provided to the physical (PHY) layer from higher layers. The UE selects resources for the SL positioning operations based on at least the priority value. The UE may reserve resources for the SL positioning operations, for example, using Layer 1 (L1) and/or Layer 2 (L2) control operations or by transmitting an indication that other UEs are to avoid using the resources. The priority values for the SL positioning operations may be used to resolve in-device conflicts, such as when the SL positioning operations conflict with other sidelink or non-sidelink operations.

In one implementation, a method for supporting sidelink (SL) positioning performed by a user equipment (UE), includes assigning a priority value for at least one SL positioning operation; selecting resources for the at least one SL positioning operation based on the priority value; and reserving the resources for the at least one SL positioning operation.

In one implementation, a user equipment (UE) configured for supporting sidelink (SL) positioning performed, includes a wireless transceiver configured to wirelessly communicate with network entities; at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled to the wireless transceiver and the at least one memory, the at least one processor configured to: assign a priority value for at least one SL positioning operation; select resources for the at least one SL positioning operation based on the priority value; and reserve the resources for the at least one SL positioning operation via the wireless transceiver.

In one implementation, a user equipment (UE) configured for supporting sidelink (SL) positioning performed, includes means for assigning a priority value for at least one SL positioning operation; means for selecting resources for the at least one SL positioning operation based on the priority value; and means for reserving the resources for the at least one SL positioning operation.

In one implementation, a non-transitory storage medium including program code stored thereon, the program code is operable to configure at least one processor in a user equipment (UE) for supporting sidelink (SL) positioning performed, the program code comprising instructions to: assign a priority value for at least one SL positioning operation; select resources for the at least one SL positioning operation based on the priority value; and reserve the resources for the at least one SL positioning operation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an architecture of communication system including a number of UEs, a Radio Access Network (RAN), and a 5G Core Network (5GC).

FIG. 2 illustrates a signal flow for signaling between UEs for pairwise sidelink positioning.

FIGS. 3A-3D each illustrate slot based sidelink transmissions, with multiple sidelink symbols, and illustrate various options for the structure of sidelink positioning signal transmissions.

FIG. 4 illustrates is a signal flow for a procedure and signaling between UEs for supporting sidelink (SL) positioning using priority values.

FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic block diagram illustrating certain exemplary features of a UE configured to support sidelink positioning operations using priority values.

FIG. 6 illustrates a flowchart for an exemplary method for supporting SL positioning using priority values.

Elements are indicated by numeric labels in the figures with like numbered elements in different figures representing the same element or similar elements. Different instances of a common element are indicated by following a numeric label for the common element with a distinct numeric suffix. In this case, a reference to the numeric label without a suffix indicates any instance of the common element.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Aspects of the disclosure are provided in the following description and related drawings directed to various examples provided for illustration purposes. Alternate aspects may be devised without departing from the scope of the disclosure. Additionally, well-known elements of the disclosure will not be described in detail or will be omitted so as not to obscure the relevant details of the disclosure.

The description may refer to sequences of actions to be performed, for example, by elements of a computing device. Various actions described herein can be performed by specific circuits (e.g., an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)), by program instructions being executed by one or more processors, or by a combination of both. Sequences of actions described herein may be embodied within a non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon a corresponding set of computer instructions that upon execution would cause an associated processor to perform the functionality described herein. Thus, the various aspects described herein may be embodied in a number of different forms, all of which are within the scope of the disclosure, including claimed subject matter.

As used herein, the terms “user equipment” (UE) and “base station” are not specific to or otherwise limited to any particular Radio Access Technology (RAT), unless otherwise noted. In general, such UEs may be any wireless communication device (e.g., a mobile phone, router, tablet computer, laptop computer, tracking device, Internet of Things (IoT) device, Industrial IoT (IIoT), etc.) used to communicate over a wireless communications network. A UE may be mobile or may (e.g., at certain times) be stationary, and may communicate with a Radio Access Network (RAN). For example, as used herein, a UE may be an infrastructure node, such as a roadside unit (RSU), Positioning Reference Unit (PRU), etc. As used herein, the term “UE” may be referred to interchangeably as an “access terminal” or “AT,” a “client device,” a “wireless device,” a “subscriber device,” a “subscriber terminal,” a “subscriber station,” a “user terminal” or UT, a “mobile terminal,” a “mobile station,” RSU, PRU, or variations thereof. Generally, UEs can communicate with a core network via a RAN, and through the core network the UEs can be connected with external networks such as the Internet and with other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms of connecting to the core network and/or the Internet are also possible for the UEs, such as over wired access networks, WiFi networks (e.g., based on IEEE 802.11, etc.) and so on.

A base station may operate according to one of several RATs in communication with UEs depending on the network in which it is deployed, and may be alternatively referred to as an Access Point (AP), a Network Node, a NodeB, an evolved NodeB (eNB), a general Node B (gNodeB, gNB), etc. In addition, in some systems a base station may provide purely edge node signaling functions while in other systems it may provide additional control and/or network management functions.

UEs may be embodied by any of a number of types of devices including but not limited to printed circuit (PC) cards, compact flash devices, external or internal modems, wireless or wireline phones, smartphones, tablets, tracking devices, asset tags, and so on. A communication link through which UEs can send signals to a RAN is called an uplink channel (e.g., a reverse traffic channel, a reverse control channel, an access channel, etc.). A communication link through which the RAN can send signals to UEs is called a downlink or forward link channel (e.g., a paging channel, a control channel, a broadcast channel, a forward traffic channel, etc.). A communication link through which UEs can send signals to other UEs is called a sidelink channel. As used herein the term traffic channel (TCH) can refer to either an uplink/reverse or downlink/forward or sidelink traffic channel.

As used herein, the term “cell” or “sector” may correspond to one of a plurality of cells of a base station, or to the base station itself, depending on the context. The term “cell” may refer to a logical communication entity used for communication with a base station (for example, over a carrier), and may be associated with an identifier for distinguishing neighboring cells (for example, a physical cell identifier (PCID), a virtual cell identifier (VCID)) operating via the same or a different carrier. In some examples, a carrier may support multiple cells, and different cells may be configured according to different protocol types (for example, machine-type communication (MTC), narrowband Internet-of-Things (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), or others) that may provide access for different types of devices. In some examples, the term “cell” may refer to a portion of a geographic coverage area (for example, a sector) over which the logical entity operates.

Standardization of cellular systems, such as the Fifth Generation (5G) or New Radio (NR) network system, is ongoing in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). The 3GPP Release 16 and Release 17, for example, have introduced standardization and support of several techniques enabling and enhancing positioning in cellular systems. By way of example, RAT-dependent positioning systems that have been undergoing standardization include Enhanced Cell ID (E-CID) (using Received Signal Strength (RSS) and Round Trip Time (RTT) and optionally using Angle of Arrival (AoA)), downlink (DL) positioning, such as Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA), uplink (UL) positioning, such as Uplink Time Difference of Arrival (UTDOA). RAT-independent positioning systems that have been undergoing standardization include Enhanced Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), and other technologies such as Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), Bluetooth®, Terrestrial Beason System (TBS), and sensor based positioning including barometric sensor and motion sensor. Additionally, Hybrid positioning has undergone standardization, which includes the use of multiple methods for positioning, e.g., A-GNSS+OTDOA hybrid positioning.

Standardization of sidelink (SL) positioning may be undertaken in the future, e.g., in 3GPP Release 18. SL positioning, for example, may use reference signals, such as positioning reference signals (PRS) transmitted and received by UEs over sidelink channels, which may be measured to determine ranges between UEs, angle of arrival of signals, relative positions of UEs etc., which, based on known positions of one or more UEs, may be used to further determine an absolute position of UEs, if desired.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a communication system 100 that includes a first UE 105A, a second UE 105B, a Radio Access Network (RAN) 135, here a Fifth Generation (5G) Next Generation (NG) RAN (NG-RAN), and a 5G Core Network (5GC) 140. The 5GC 140, for example, may be a public land mobile network (PLMN). The UE 105A and UE 105B may be sometimes referred to herein as UE 105 individually or UEs 105 collectively. The UE 105 may be, e.g., an IoT device, a location tracker device, a cellular telephone, a vehicle, an On-Board Unit (OBU), or other similar type of device. The UE 105 may additionally be considered an RSU or PRU. A 5G network may also be referred to as a New Radio (NR) network; NG-RAN 135 may be referred to as a 5G RAN or as an NR RAN; and 5GC 140 may be referred to as an NG Core network (NGC). Standardization of an NG-RAN and 5GC is ongoing in the 3^(rd) Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). Accordingly, the NG-RAN 135 and the 5GC 140 may conform to current or future standards for 5G support from 3GPP. The RAN 135 may be another type of RAN, e.g., a 3G RAN, a 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) RAN, etc. The UE 105B may be configured and coupled similarly to the UE 105A to send and/or receive signals to/from similar other entities in the system 100. The communication system 100 may utilize information from a constellation of satellite vehicles (SVs) 190 for a Satellite Positioning System (SPS) (e.g., a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS)) like the Global Positioning System (GPS), the Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), Galileo, or Beidou or some other local or regional SPS such as the Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS), the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), or the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS). Additional components of the communication system 100 are described below. The communication system 100 may include additional or alternative components.

As shown in FIG. 1 , the NG-RAN 135 includes NR nodeBs (gNBs) 110 a, 110 b, and a next generation eNodeB (ng-eNB) 114, and the 5GC 140 includes an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 115, a Session Management Function (SMF) 117, a Location Management Function (LMF) 120, and a Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) 125, a User Plane Function (UPF) 118, and a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Location Platform (SUPL SLP) 119. The gNBs 110 a, 110 b and the ng-eNB 114 are communicatively coupled to each other, are each configured wirelessly communicate to bi-directionally with the UEs 105, and are each communicatively coupled to, and configured to bi-directionally communicate with, the AMF 115 and the UPF 118. The gNBs 110 a, 110 b, and the ng-eNB 114 may be referred to as base stations (BSs). The AMF 115, the SMF 117, the LMF 120, and the GMLC 125 are communicatively coupled to each other, and the GMLC 125 is communicatively coupled to an external client 130. The AMF 115, the SMF 117, the UPF 118, and the SUPL SLP 119 are communicatively coupled to each other, and the SUPL SLP 119 is communicatively coupled to the external client 130. The SMF 117 may further serve as an initial contact point of a Service Control Function (SCF) (not shown) to create, control, and delete media sessions. The base stations 110 a, 110 b, 114 may be a macro cell (e.g., a high-power cellular base station), or a small cell (e.g., a low-power cellular base station), or an access point (e.g., a short-range base station configured to communicate with short-range technology such as WiFi, WiFi-Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth, Bluetooth-low energy (BLE), Zigbee, etc. One or more of the base stations 110 a, 110 b, 114 may be configured to communicate with the UEs 105 via multiple carriers. Each of the base stations 110 a, 110 b, 114 may provide communication coverage for a respective geographic region, e.g., a cell. Each cell may be partitioned into multiple sectors as a function of the base station antennas.

FIG. 1 provides a generalized illustration of various components, any or all of which may be utilized as appropriate, and each of which may be duplicated or omitted, as necessary. Specifically, although only UEs 105 are illustrated, many UEs (e.g., hundreds, thousands, millions, etc.) may be utilized in the communication system 100. Similarly, the communication system 100 may include a larger (or smaller) number of SVs (i.e., more or fewer than the four SVs 190 shown), gNBs 110 a, 110 b, ng-eNBs 114, AMFs 115, external clients 130, and/or other components. The illustrated connections that connect the various components in the communication system 100 include data and signaling connections which may include additional (intermediary) components, direct or indirect physical and/or wireless connections, and/or additional networks. Furthermore, components may be rearranged, combined, separated, substituted, and/or omitted, depending on desired functionality.

While FIG. 1 illustrates a 5G-based network, similar network implementations and configurations may be used for other communication technologies, such as 3G, Long Term Evolution (LTE), etc. Implementations described herein (be they for 5G technology and/or for one or more other communication technologies and/or protocols) may be used to transmit (or broadcast) directional synchronization signals, receive and measure directional signals at UEs (e.g., the UEs 105) or at base stations 110 a, 110 b, 114 and/or provide location assistance to the UEs 105 (via the LMF 120 or SUPL SLP 119 or other location server) and/or compute a location for one or both of the UEs 105 at a location-capable device such as the UEs 105, the base stations 110 a, 110 b, the LMF 120, or SUPL SLP 119 based on measurement quantities received at the UEs 105 or the base stations 110 a, 110 b, 114 for such directionally-transmitted signals. The GMLC 125, the LMF 120, the AMF 115, the SMF 117, the UPF 118, the SUPL SLP 119, the ng-eNB (eNodeB) 114 and the gNBs (gNodeBs) 110 a, 110 b are examples and may, in various embodiments, be replaced by or include various other entities, including location server functionality and/or base station functionality.

The system 100 is capable of wireless communication in that components of the system 100 can communicate with one another (at least sometimes using wireless connections) directly or indirectly, e.g., via the base stations 110 a, 110 b, 114 and/or the network 140 (and/or one or more other devices not shown, such as one or more other base transceiver stations). For indirect communications, the communications may be altered during transmission from one entity to another, e.g., to alter header information of data packets, to change format, etc. The UEs 105 may include multiple UEs and may be a mobile wireless communication device but may communicate wirelessly and via wired connections. The UEs 105 may be any of a variety of devices, e.g., a smartphone, a tablet computer, a vehicle-based device, etc., but these are examples only as the UEs 105 is not required to be any of these configurations, and other configurations of UEs may be used. Other UEs may include wearable devices (e.g., smart watches, smart jewelry, smart glasses, or headsets, etc.). Still other UEs may be used, whether currently existing or developed in the future. Further, other wireless devices (whether mobile or not) may be implemented within the system 100 and may communicate with each other and/or with the UEs 105, the base stations 110 a, 110 b, 114, the core network 140, and/or the external client 130. For example, such other devices may include IoT or IIoT devices, medical devices, home entertainment and/or automation devices, etc. The core network 140 may communicate with the external client 130 (e.g., a computer system), e.g., to allow the external client 130 to request and/or receive location information regarding the UEs 105 (e.g., via the GMLC 125 or SUPL SLP 119).

The UEs 105 or other devices may be configured to communicate in various networks and/or for various purposes and/or using various technologies (e.g., 5G, Wi-Fi communication, multiple frequencies of Wi-Fi communication, satellite positioning, one or more types of communications (e.g., GSM (Global System for Mobiles), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), LTE (Long-Term Evolution), V2X (e.g., V2P (Vehicle-to-Pedestrian), V2I (Vehicle-to-Infrastructure), V2V (Vehicle-to-Vehicle), etc.), IEEE 802.11p, etc.). V2X communications may be cellular (Cellular-V2X (C-V2X)) and/or WiFi (e.g., DSRC (Dedicated Short-Range Connection)). The system 100 may support operation on multiple carriers (waveform signals of different frequencies). Multi-carrier transmitters can transmit modulated signals simultaneously on the multiple carriers. Each modulated signal may be a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) signal, a Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) signal, an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) signal, a Single-Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) signal, etc. Each modulated signal may be sent on a different carrier and may carry pilot, overhead information, data, etc. The UEs 105 may communicate with each other through UE-to-UE sidelink (SL) communications by transmitting over one or more sidelink channels, such as a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH), a physical sidelink broadcast channel (PSBCH), a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH), Synchronization Signal Block (SSB), sidelink channel state information reference signal (SL-CSIRS), physical sidelink feedback channel (PSFCH), or sidelink sounding reference signals (SL-SRS).

The UEs 105 may comprise and/or may be referred to as a device, a mobile device, a wireless device, a mobile terminal, a terminal, a mobile station (MS), a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Enabled Terminal (SET), or by some other name. Moreover, the UEs 105 may correspond to a cellphone, smartphone, laptop, tablet, PDA, tracking device, navigation device, Internet of Things (IoT) device, asset tracker, health monitors, security systems, smart city sensors, smart meters, wearable trackers, or some other portable or moveable device. Typically, though not necessarily, the UEs 105 may support wireless communication using one or more Radio Access Technologies (RATs) such as Global System for Mobile communication (GSM), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), LTE, High Rate Packet Data (HRPD), IEEE 802.11 WiFi (also referred to as Wi-Fi), Bluetooth (BT), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), 5G new radio (NR) (e.g., using the NG-RAN 135 and the 5GC 140), etc. The UEs 105 may support wireless communication using a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) which may connect to other networks (e.g., the Internet) using a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) or packet cable, for example. The use of one or more of these RATs may allow the UEs 105 to communicate with the external client 130 (e.g., via elements of the 5GC 140 not shown in FIG. 1 , or possibly via the GMLC 125) and/or allow the external client 130 to receive location information regarding the UEs 105 (e.g., via the GMLC 125 or SUPL SLP 119).

Each of the UEs 105 may include a single entity or may include multiple entities such as in a personal area network where a user may employ audio, video and/or data I/O (input/output) devices and/or body sensors and a separate wireline or wireless modem. An estimate of a location of a UE, e.g., UE 105, may be referred to as a location, location estimate, location fix, fix, position, position estimate, or position fix, and may be geographic, thus providing location coordinates for the UE (e.g., latitude and longitude) which may or may not include an altitude component (e.g., height above sea level, height above or depth below ground level, floor level, or basement level). Alternatively, a location of the UE may be expressed as a civic location (e.g., as a postal address or the designation of some point or small area in a building such as a particular room or floor). A location of the UE may be expressed as an area or volume (defined either geographically or in civic form) within which the UE is expected to be located with some probability or confidence level (e.g., 67%, 95%, etc.). A location of the UE may be expressed as a relative location comprising, for example, a distance and direction from a known location. The relative location may be expressed as relative coordinates (e.g., X, Y (and Z) coordinates) defined relative to some origin at a known location which may be defined, e.g., geographically, in civic terms, or by reference to a point, area, or volume, e.g., indicated on a map, floor plan, or building plan. In the description contained herein, the use of the term location may comprise any of these variants unless indicated otherwise. When computing the location of a UE, it is common to solve for local x, y, and possibly z coordinates and then, if desired, convert the local coordinates into absolute coordinates (e.g., for latitude, longitude, and altitude above or below mean sea level).

The UEs 105 may be configured to communicate with other entities using one or more of a variety of technologies. The UEs 105 may be configured to connect indirectly to one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) peer-to-peer (P2P) links. The D2D P2P links may be supported with any appropriate D2D radio access technology (RAT), such as LTE Direct (LTE-D), WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Bluetooth, and so on. One or more of a group of UEs utilizing D2D communications may be within a geographic coverage area of a Transmission/Reception Point (TRP) such as one or more of the gNBs 110 a, 110 b, and/or the ng-eNB 114. Other UEs in such a group may be outside such geographic coverage areas or may be otherwise unable to receive transmissions from a base station. Groups of UEs communicating via D2D communications may utilize a one-to-many (1:M) system in which each UE may transmit to other UEs in the group. A TRP may facilitate scheduling of resources for D2D communications. In other cases, D2D communications may be carried out between UEs without the involvement of a TRP. One or more of a group of UEs utilizing D2D communications may be within a geographic coverage area of a TRP. Other UEs in such a group may be outside such geographic coverage areas or be otherwise unable to receive transmissions from a base station. Groups of UEs communicating via D2D communications may utilize a one-to-many (1:M) system in which each UE may transmit to other UEs in the group. A TRP may facilitate scheduling of resources for D2D communications. In other cases, D2D communications may be carried out between UEs without the involvement of a TRP.

Base stations (BSs) in the NG-RAN 135 shown in FIG. 1 include NR Node Bs, referred to as the gNBs 110 a and 110 b. Pairs of the gNBs 110 a, 110 b in the NG-RAN 135 may be connected to one another via one or more other gNBs. Access to the 5G network is provided to the UEs 105 via wireless communication between the UEs and one or more of the gNBs 110 a, 110 b, which may provide wireless communications access to the 5GC 140 on behalf of the UE using 5G. In FIG. 1 , the serving gNB for the UE 105A is assumed to be the gNB 110 b, while the serving gNB for the UE 105B is assumed to be the gNB 110 a, although another gNB may act as a serving gNB if the UEs 105 move to another location or may act as a secondary gNB to provide additional throughput and bandwidth to the UEs 105 and the UEs 105 may share the same serving gNB.

Base stations (BSs) in the NG-RAN 135 shown in FIG. 1 may include the ng-eNB 114, also referred to as a next generation evolved Node B. The ng-eNB 114 may be connected to one or more of the gNBs 110 a, 110 b in the NG-RAN 135, possibly via one or more other gNBs and/or one or more other ng-eNBs. The ng-eNB 114 may provide LTE wireless access and/or evolved LTE (eLTE) wireless access to the UEs 105. One or more of the gNBs 110 a, 110 b and/or the ng-eNB 114 may be configured to function as positioning-only beacons which may transmit signals to assist with determining the position of the UEs 105 but may not receive signals from the UEs 105 or from other UEs.

The base stations 110 a, 110 b, 114 may each comprise one or more TRPs. For example, each sector within a cell of a base station may comprise a TRP, although multiple TRPs may share one or more components (e.g., share a processor but have separate antennas). The system 100 may include only macro TRPs or the system 100 may have TRPs of different types, e.g., macro, pico, and/or femto TRPs, etc. A macro TRP may cover a relatively large geographic area (e.g., several kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access by terminals with service subscription. A pico TRP may cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a pico cell) and may allow unrestricted access by terminals with service subscription. A femto or home TRP may cover a relatively small geographic area (e.g., a femto cell) and may allow restricted access by terminals having association with the femto cell (e.g., terminals for users in a home).

Communications system 100 may support NR and support communications between the one or more base stations 110 a, 110 b, 114 and supported UEs 105. The UEs may be dispersed throughout the wireless communications system 100, and each UE may be stationary or mobile. As part of the communication, each of the base stations 110 a, 110 b, 114 and UEs 105 may support reference signal transmission for operations, including channel estimation, beam management and scheduling, and wireless device positioning within the coverage areas of one or more base stations.

For example, the base stations 110 a, 110 b, 114 may transmit one or more downlink reference signals for NR communications, including channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS) transmission. Each of the CSI-RS transmissions may be configured for a specific UE 105 to estimate the channel and report channel quality information. The reported channel quality information may be used for scheduling or link adaptation at the base stations 110 a, 110 b, 114 or as part of a mobility or beam management procedure for directional transmission associated with the enhanced channel resources. Similarly, the UEs 105 may be configured to transmit uplink signals to one or more base stations 110 a, 110 b, 114 and sidelink transmissions between UEs 105.

The base stations 110 a, 110 b, 114 may transmit one or more additional downlink reference signals, including a positioning reference signal (PRS) transmission. The PRS transmission may be configured for a specific UEs 105 to measure and report one or more report parameters (for example, report quantities) associated with positioning and location information. The PRS transmission and report parameter feedback may support various location services (for example, navigation systems and emergency communications). In some examples, the report parameters supplement one or more additional location systems supported by the UE 105 (such as global positioning system (GPS) technology).

A base station 110 a, 110 b, 114 may configure a PRS transmission on one or more PRS resources of a channel. A PRS resource may span resource elements of multiple physical resource blocks (PRBs) within one or more OFDM symbols of a slot depending on a configured number of ports. For example, a PRS resource may span one symbol of a slot and contain one port for transmission. In any OFDM symbol, the PRS resources may occupy consecutive PRBs. In some examples, the PRS transmission may be mapped to consecutive OFDM symbols of the slot. In other examples, the PRS transmission may be mapped to interspersed OFDM symbols of the slot. Additionally, the PRS transmission may support frequency hopping within PRBs of the channel.

The one or more PRS resources may span a number of PRS resource sets according to a PRS resource setting of the base station 110 a, 110 b, 114. The structure of the one or more PRS resources, PRS resource sets, and PRS resource settings within a PRS transmission may be referred to as a multi-level resource setting. For example, multi-level PRS resource setting of the base station 110 a, 110 b, 114 may include multiple PRS resource sets and each PRS resource set may contain a set of PRS resources (such as a set of 4 PRS resources).

The UEs 105 may receive the PRS transmission over the one or more PRS resources of the slot. The UEs 105 may determine a report parameter for at least some of if not each PRS resource included in the transmission. The report parameter (which may include a report quantity) for each PRS resource may include one or more of a time of arrival (TOA), a reference signal time difference (RSTD), a reference signal receive power (RSRP), an angle, a PRS identification number, a reception to transmission difference (UE Rx-Tx), a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), or a reference signal receive quality (RSRQ).

Similarly, the UEs 105 may be configured to transmit one or more additional uplink reference signals that may be received by base stations 110 a, 110 b, 114 and used for positioning. For example, UEs 105 may transmit sounding reference signal (SRS) for positioning. Base stations 110 a, 110 b, 114 that receive uplink reference signals from a UEs 105 may perform positioning measurements, such as one or more of a time of arrival (TOA), reception to transmission difference (UE Rx-Tx).

Aspects of wireless communications system 100 may include use of downlink PRS transmissions by the base station 110 a, 110 b, 114 or uplink SRS transmissions by a UE, e.g., UE 105A or UE 105B, for UE location determination. For downlink-based UE location determination, a location server, e.g., LMF 120 in a NR network, or E-SMLC in LTE (sometimes referred to as location server 120), may be used to provide positioning assistance, such as PRS assistance data (AD) to the UE. For uplink-based UE location determination, a location server 120 and/or a serving base station, e.g., gNB 110 a, may be used to provide positioning assistance, such as SRS assistance data, to receiving entities, such as base stations (e.g., gNBs 110 a, 110 b, and the other UE(s)). The SRS assistance data, for example, may include the SRS transmission occasion and other parameters, e.g., such as the reference signal pattern, power if different from nominal, the number of repetitions, etc.

A position estimation of the UE may be determined using reference signals, such as PRS signals or SRS for positioning signals, or other reference signals, from one or more base stations 110 a, 110 b, 114 or the UE. Positioning methods, such as Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA), DL Time Difference of Arrival (DL-TDOA), DL Angle of Departure (DL AoD), Enhanced Cell ID (ECID) are position methods that may be used to estimate the position of the UE using reference signals from base stations. TDOA, for example, relies on measuring Reference Signal Time Differences (RSTDs) between downlink (DL) signals received from a base station for a reference cell and base station(s) for one or more neighbor cells. The DL signals for which RTSDs may be obtained comprise a Cell-specific Reference Signal (CRS) and a Positioning Reference Signal (PRS)—e.g., as defined in 3GPP TS 36.211.

Other positioning methods may use reference signals transmitted by the UE including uplink based positioning methods and downlink and uplink based positioning methods. For example, uplink based positioning methods include, e.g., UL Time Difference of Arrival (UL-TDOA), UL Angle of Arrival (UL AoA), UL Relative Time of Arrival (UL-RTOA) and downlink and uplink based positioning methods, e.g., Round-trip time (RTT) with one or more neighboring base stations. Additionally, sidelink based positioning may be used in which UEs transmit and/or receive sidelink positioning reference signals that are measured and used for positioning.

As noted, while FIG. 1 depicts nodes configured to communicate according to 5G communication protocols, nodes configured to communicate according to other communication protocols, such as, for example, an LTE protocol or IEEE 802.11x protocol, may be used. For example, in an Evolved Packet System (EPS) providing LTE wireless access to the UEs 105, a RAN may comprise an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) which may comprise base stations comprising evolved Node Bs (eNBs). A core network for EPS may comprise an Evolved Packet Core (EPC). An EPS may comprise an E-UTRAN plus EPC, where the E-UTRAN corresponds to the NG-RAN 135 and the EPC corresponds to the 5GC 140 in FIG. 1 .

The gNBs 110 a, 110 b and the ng-eNB 114 may communicate with the AMF 115, which, for positioning functionality, communicates with the LMF 120. The AMF 115 may support mobility of the UEs 105, including cell change and handover and may participate in supporting a signaling connection to the UEs 105 and possibly data and voice bearers for the UEs 105. The LMF 120 may communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs 105, e.g., through wireless communications, or directly or indirectly with the base stations 110 a, 110 b, 114. The LMF 120 may support positioning of the UEs 105 when the UEs 105 accesses the NG-RAN 135 and may support position procedures/methods such as Assisted GNSS (A-GNSS), Time Difference of Arrival (TDOA) (e.g., Downlink (DL) TDOA or Uplink (UL) TDOA), Real Time Kinematics (RTK), Precise Point Positioning (PPP), Differential GNSS (DGNSS), Enhanced Cell ID (E-CID), angle of arrival (AOA), angle of departure (AOD), and/or other position methods. The LMF 120 may process location services requests for the UEs 105, e.g., received from the AMF 115 or from the GMLC 125. The LMF 120 may be connected to the AMF 115 and/or to the GMLC 125. The LMF 120 may be referred to by other names such as a Location Manager (LM), Location Function (LF), commercial LMF (CLMF), or value added LMF (VLMF). A node/system that implements the LMF 120 may additionally or alternatively implement other types of location-support modules, such as an Enhanced Serving Mobile Location Center (E-SMLC) or a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Location Platform (SUPL SLP). At least part of the positioning functionality (including derivation of the location of the UE) may be performed at the UE (e.g., using signal measurements obtained by the UE for signals transmitted by wireless nodes such as the gNBs 110 a, 110 b and/or the ng-eNB 114, and/or assistance data provided to the UE, e.g., by the LMF 120). At least part of the positioning functionality (including derivation of the location of the UE) alternatively may be performed at the LMF 120 (e.g., using signal measurements obtained by the gNBs 110 a, 110 b and/or the ng-eNB 114. The AMF 115 may serve as a control node that processes signaling between the UEs 105 and the core network 140, and provides QoS (Quality of Service) flow and session management. The AMF 115 may support mobility of the UEs 105 including cell change and handover and may participate in supporting signaling connection to the UEs 105.

The GMLC 125 may support a location request for the UEs 105 received from the external client 130 and may forward such a location request to the AMF 115 for forwarding by the AMF 115 to the LMF 120 or may forward the location request directly to the LMF 120. A location response from the LMF 120 (e.g., containing a location estimate for the UEs 105) may be returned to the GMLC 125 either directly or via the AMF 115 and the GMLC 125 may then return the location response (e.g., containing the location estimate) to the external client 130. The GMLC 125 is shown connected to both the AMF 115 and LMF 120, though only one of these connections may be supported by the 5GC 140 in some implementations.

A User Plane Function (UPF) 118 may support voice and data bearers for UE 105 and may enable UE 105 voice and data access to other networks such as the Internet. The UPF 118 may be connected to gNBs 110 and ng-eNB 114. UPF 118 functions may include: external Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session point of interconnect to a Data Network, packet (e.g. Internet Protocol (IP)) routing and forwarding, packet inspection and user plane part of policy rule enforcement, Quality of Service (QoS) handling for user plane, downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering. UPF 118 may be connected to the SUPL SLP 119 to enable support of positioning of UE 105 using SUPL. SUPL SLP 119 may be further connected to or accessible from external client 130.

As illustrated, a Session Management Function (SMF) 117 connects to the AMF 115 and the UPF 118. The SMF 117 may have the capability to control both a local and a central UPF within a PDU session. SMF 117 may manage the establishment, modification, and release of PDU sessions for UE 105, perform IP address allocation and management for UE 105, act as a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server for UE 105, and select and control a UPF 118 on behalf of UE 105.

As further illustrated in FIG. 1 , the LMF 120 may communicate with the gNBs 110 a, 110 b and/or the ng-eNB 114 using a New Radio Position Protocol A (which may be referred to as NPPa or NRPPa), which may be defined in 3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 38.455. NRPPa may be the same as, similar to, or an extension of the LTE Positioning Protocol A (LPPa) defined in 3GPP TS 36.455, with NRPPa messages being transferred between the gNB 110 a (or the gNB 110 b) and the LMF 120, and/or between the ng-eNB 114 and the LMF 120, via the AMF 115. As further illustrated in FIG. 1 , the LMF 120 and the UEs 105 may communicate using an LTE Positioning Protocol (LPP), which may be defined in 3GPP TS 36.355. Here, LPP messages may be transferred between the UEs 105 and the LMF 120 via the AMF 115 and the serving gNB 110 a, 110 b or the serving ng-eNB 114 for the UEs 105. For example, LPP messages may be transferred between the LMF 120 and the AMF 115 using a 5G Location Services Application Protocol (LCS AP) and may be transferred between the AMF 115 and the UEs 105 using a 5G Non-Access Stratum (NAS) protocol. Communication between the LMF 120 and UEs 105 using LPP protocol, may sometimes referred to herein as direct communication, as the messages are transparent to the serving gNB, i.e., the serving gNB does not need to understand the content of the message, but simply forwards the communication between the LMF 120 and UEs 105. In contrast, during communications using NPP protocol, such as NRPPa, the serving gNB unpacks the message, picks out the content, which is packed and sent to UE, e.g., in a Uu air interface via Radio Resource Control (RRC), Medium Access Control—Control Element (MAC-CE), Downlink Control Information (DCI), etc. The LPP protocol may be used to support positioning of the UEs 105 using UE-assisted and/or UE-based position methods such as A-GNSS, RTK, TDOA, AOA, AOD, and/or E-CID. The NRPPa protocol may be used to support positioning of the UEs 105 using network-based position methods such as E-CID (e.g., when used with measurements obtained by the gNB 110 a, 110 b or the ng-eNB 114) and/or may be used by the LMF 120 to obtain location related information from the gNBs 110 a, 110 b and/or the ng-eNB 114, such as parameters defining directional Synchronization Signal (SS) transmissions from the gNBs 110 a, 110 b, and/or the ng-eNB 114. The LMF 120 is illustrated in FIG. 1 as being located in the core network 140, but may be external to the core network 140, e.g., in an NG-RAN. For example, the LMF 120 may be co-located or integrated with a gNB or a TRP, or may be disposed remote from the gNB and/or the TRP and configured to communicate directly or indirectly with the gNB and/or the TRP.

With a UE-assisted position method, the UE, e.g., UE 105A or UE 105B may obtain location measurements and send the measurements to a location server (e.g., the LMF 120) for computation of a location estimate for the UE. For example, the location measurements may include one or more of a Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI), Round Trip signal propagation Time (RTT), Reference Signal Time Difference (RSTD), Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP) and/or Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ), AOA, AOD, for the gNBs 110 a, 110 b, the ng-eNB 114, and/or a WLAN AP. The location measurements may also or instead include measurements of GNSS pseudorange, code phase, and/or carrier phase for the SVs 190-193.

With a UE-based position method, the UE, e.g., UE 105A or UE 105B, may obtain location measurements (e.g., which may be the same as or similar to location measurements for a UE-assisted position method) and may compute a location of the UE (e.g., with the help of assistance data received from a location server such as the LMF 120 or broadcast by the gNBs 110 a, 110 b, the ng-eNB 114, or other base stations or APs).

With a network-based position method, one or more base stations (e.g., the gNBs 110 a, 110 b, and/or the ng-eNB 114), sidelink UEs, or APs may obtain location measurements (e.g., measurements of RSSI, RTT, RSRP, RSRQ, AOA, AOD, or Time of Arrival (ToA) for signals transmitted by the UE, e.g., UE 105A or UE 105B) and/or may receive measurements obtained by the UE. The one or more base stations or APs may send the measurements to a location server (e.g., the LMF 120) for computation of a location estimate for the UE.

Information provided by the gNBs 110 a, 110 b, and/or the ng-eNB 114 to the LMF 120 using NRPPa may include timing and configuration information for directional SS transmissions and location coordinates. The LMF 120 may provide some or all of this information to the UEs 105 as assistance data in an LPP and/or NPP message via the NG-RAN 135 and the 5GC 140.

An LPP or NPP message sent from the LMF 120 to the UEs 105 may instruct the UEs 105 to do any of a variety of things depending on desired functionality. For example, the LPP or NPP message could contain an instruction for the UEs 105 to obtain measurements for GNSS (or A-GNSS), WLAN, E-CID, and/or TDOA (or some other position method). In the case of E-CID, the LPP or NPP message may instruct the UEs 105 to obtain one or more measurement quantities (e.g., beam ID, beam width, mean angle, RSRP, RSRQ measurements) of directional signals transmitted within particular cells supported by one or more of the gNBs 110 a, 110 b, and/or the ng-eNB 114 (or supported by some other type of base station such as an eNB or WiFi AP). The UEs 105 may send the measurement quantities back to the LMF 120 in an LPP or NPP message (e.g., inside a 5G NAS message) via the serving gNB 110 a (or the serving ng-eNB 114) and the AMF 115.

As noted, while the communication system 100 is described in relation to 5G technology, the communication system 100 may be implemented to support other communication technologies, such as GSM, WCDMA, LTE, etc., that are used for supporting and interacting with mobile devices such as the UEs 105 (e.g., to implement voice, data, positioning, and other functionalities). In some such embodiments, the 5GC 140 may be configured to control different air interfaces. For example, the 5GC 140 may be connected to a WLAN using a Non-3GPP InterWorking Function (N3IWF, not shown FIG. 1 ) in the 5GC 150. For example, the WLAN may support IEEE 802.11 WiFi access for the UEs 105 and may comprise one or more WiFi APs. Here, the N3IWF may connect to the WLAN and to other elements in the 5GC 140 such as the AMF 115. In some embodiments, both the NG-RAN 135 and the 5GC 140 may be replaced by one or more other RANs and one or more other core networks. For example, in an EPS, the NG-RAN 135 may be replaced by an E-UTRAN containing eNBs and the 5GC 140 may be replaced by an EPC containing a Mobility Management Entity (MME) in place of the AMF 115, an E-SMLC in place of the LMF 120, and a GMLC that may be similar to the GMLC 125. In such an EPS, the E-SMLC may use LPPa in place of NRPPa to send and receive location information to and from the eNBs in the E-UTRAN and may use LPP to support positioning of the UEs 105. In these other embodiments, positioning of the UEs 105 using directional PRSs may be supported in an analogous manner to that described herein for a 5G network with the difference that functions and procedures described herein for the gNBs 110 a, 110 b, the ng-eNB 114, the AMF 115, and the LMF 120 may, in some cases, apply instead to other network elements such eNBs, WiFi APs, an MME, and an E-SMLC.

Positioning for UEs in a radio network, such as communication system 100 shown in FIG. 1 , typically uses Uu interfaces, i.e., radio interface between the UE and the radio access network, for DL PRS and/or UL PRS. Positioning for UEs may use sidelink PRS (sometimes referred to as SL-PRS), which may be a specific sidelink defined reference signal for positioning or may reuse Uu PRS, e.g., UL PRS, sometimes referred to as Sounding Reference Signal for positioning (SRSPos), or other reference signals may be transmitted in the sidelink channel. Sidelink positioning may enhance UE positioning by providing an additional transmission (or reception) node. A sidelink UE, such as UE 105B, with a known position may be used to support position determination of a target UE, such as UE 105, where the sidelink UE is sometimes referred to as an anchor node.

With a sidelink positioning method, a UE 105A for example may transmit a sidelink PRS or sidelink SRS signal which is received and measured by UE 105B. In addition or instead, the UE 105B for example may transmit a sidelink PRS or sidelink SRS signal which is received and measured by the UE 105A. Measurements of SL PRS or SL SRS signals may include Rx-Tx, TOA, RSRP, RSRQ, AOA. SL position methods may include SL RTT (also referred to as ranging), SL AOA and SL AOD. In some scenarios a group of UEs (not shown in FIG. 1 ) may support SL positioning. In this case, one UE in the group may transmit an SL PRS or SL SRS signal which may be measured by some or all other UEs in the group. Some or all other UEs in the group may also transmit an SL PRS or SL SRS signal (e.g. with each UE transmitting SL SRS or SL PRS at a different time or times than times at which other UEs in the group transmit SL PRS or SL SRS) which may be measured by some or all other UEs in the group different to the UE transmitting the UL PRS or ULS SRS. Measurements made by UEs applicable to transmission of SL PRS or SL SRS by a group of UEs may include Rx-Tx, TOA, RSTD, AOA, RSRP, RSRQ. Position methods supported by these measurements may include sidelink RTT (e.g. ranging), sidelink AOA, sidelink AOD, sidelink TDOA (SL-TDOA). Based on the measurements and the position methods(s), each UE may determine a relative location of itself and/or of other UEs or absolute locations. For example, a relative location of a UE may comprise a location of the UE relative to one or more other UEs in the group.

Sidelink positioning may be used for positioning of UEs independently of the core network. One example implementation of sidelink positioning may be found in vehicular communication systems, such as V2X, which may be used for safety related applications, such as safety warnings, traffic congestions (e.g., automated traffic control), and coordinated or automated vehicle maneuvering. Sidelink positioning, for example, may be used between UEs, including between UEs, RSUs, and PRUs with network access independence. The sidelink positioning may be used with a pair of UEs (e.g., ranging), groups of UEs (V2X), and UE membership in multiple groups. By way of example, sidelink positioning may provide support for various position techniques currently standardized, e.g., in Release 18, such as PRS RTT, AoA, DAoA, AoD, DAoD, but also enable the addition of other PRS capabilities and non-PRS methods in later Releases. Standardization of sidelink positioning may be undertaken in the future. One aspect of sidelink positioning that will require a solution is resource selection and prioritization for sidelink positioning operations.

FIG. 2 by way of example, is a signal flow 200 illustrating signaling between UE 105A and UEs 105B for pairwise sidelink positioning. The UE 105A and 105B, for example, may be, e.g., the UEs illustrated in FIG. 1 . The sidelink positioning illustrated in FIG. 2 is independent of a network.

At stage 0 of FIG. 2 , discovery of UEs and establishment of the sidelink communication session is performed. The discover process may be request-response or announcement based. The discovery phase, for example, may be implemented by one or both of UEs 105A and 105B to detect other UEs that are available for sidelink positioning. For example, discovery messages may be exchanged between UE 105A and/or 105B to determine nearby UEs that are available to participate in sidelink positioning. Additional messages may be exchanged to establish the sidelink positioning session between UEs 105A and 105B. For example, the UEs may exchange one or more group criteria parameters for group formation, such as relative distance between UEs, the period of time that a UE will be in communication with other UEs, direction and/or speed of travel of the UEs. Based on the group criteria parameters, the UEs may determine whether to form a group, e.g., determine a group status indication for the other UE indicating inclusion in a group with the UE or exclusion of the other UE from a group with UE. In FIG. 2 , for example, it is assumed that the UEs 105A and 105B meet the one or more group criteria and are included in the group (e.g., group of two UEs).

At stage 1, the UEs 105A and 105B may exchange SLP capabilities, resources, service requirement, which may include QoS, for example, using Request Capabilities and Resources and Provide Capabilities and Resources messages as discussed above. The capabilities that are exchanged may define what each of the UEs 105A and 105B is implemented to support. The resources that are exchanged define what capabilities that each of the UEs 105A and 105B is permitted to support, the capabilities that each of the UEs 105A and 105B is not permitted to support, or both. The sidelink positioning capabilities that the UE is permitted to support or not permitted to support may include permission or restrictions on one or more of the sidelink PRS transmission time, sidelink PRS measurement time, sidelink PRS transmission duration, sidelink PRS measurement duration, bandwidth of sidelink PRS transmission, bandwidth of sidelink PRS that is measured, RF frequency of sidelink PRS transmission, RF frequency of sidelink PRS that is measured, signal coding of sidelink PRS transmissions, signal coding of sidelink PRS that is measured, periodicity of sidelink PRS transmissions, periodicity of sidelink PRS that is measured, transmission power for sidelink PRS transmission, transmission power for sidelink PRS that is measured, or any combination thereof. The service requirement includes an indication of at least one of an immediate location, a deferred location, a periodic location, a triggered location, a relative location, a global location, a location accuracy, a location latency, a location periodicity, a location reliability, or some combination of these. The quality of service (QoS) that is exchanged defines the type of location (e.g., single or periodic), accuracy, latency, periodicity, reliability that each UE requires or expects in the sidelink positioning session.

At stage 2, the UE 105A transmits positioning signals PRS1. The configuration of PRS1, for example, may be defined based on the capabilities, resources and service requirement which may include QoS of UE 105A and 105B. The PRS1 configuration, for example, may be the same as or similar to PRS configurations defined in 3GPP TS 37.355 for LPP except that they may refer to PRS transmission on a sidelink communication channel between two UEs or between a group of UEs.

At stage 3, the UE 105B measures the positioning signals PRS1. The UE 105B, for example, may measure RSSI, RTT, RSRP, RSRQ, AOA, AOD, TOA, of the PRS1 transmitted by UE 105A.

At stage 4, the UE 105B transmits positioning signals PRS2. Similar to PRS1, discussed in stage 2, the configuration of PRS2, for example, may be defined based on the capabilities, resources and service requirement which may include QoS of UE 105A and 105B. The PRS2 configuration, for example, may be the same as or similar to PRS configurations defined in 3GPP TS 37.355 for LPP except that they may refer to PRS transmission on a sidelink communication channel between two UEs or between a group of UEs.

At stage 5, the UE 105A measures the positioning signals PRS2. The UE 105A, for example, may measure RSSI, RTT, RSRP, RSRQ, AOA, AOD, TOA, of the PRS2 transmitted by UE 105B.

At stage 6, the UE 105A and UE 105B exchange measurements. The exchange of measurements, for example, may indicate the time of departure (TOD), AOD, signal strength, etc. of the transmitted signals, and in some implementations may provide the measurements generated in stages 3 and 5.

At stage 7, the UE 105A and UE 105B may determine the relative location, e.g., range between UE 105A and 105B, and velocities, based on the measurements generated in stages 3 and 5 and received in stage 6. For example, the UEs may determine the range based on the TOD and TOA of the PRS signals. For example, the range may be determined based on the TODi and TOAi for the PRSi signals (where i=1 for PRS transmitted by UE 105A in stage 2 and i=2 for PRS transmitted by UE 105B in stage 4, and c represents the speed of transmission of an electromagnetic wave, e.g., speed of light) as:

Range=(TOD ₁ −TOA ₂)−(TOA ₁ −TOD ₂)/2c.  eq.1

As illustrated in stage 8, stages 2-7 may be repeated as desired.

FIGS. 3A-3D each illustrate slot based sidelink transmissions, with multiple sidelink symbols and illustrate various options for the structure of sidelink positioning signal transmissions. As discussed above in stages 2 and 4, configuration of the positioning signals (PRS1 and PRS2) used in sidelink positioning be similar to PRS configurations defined in 3GPP TS 37.355 for LPP. The radio resources in NR, for example, are defined in time and frequency domains, and sidelink may have the same or similar radio frames, sub frames, and slots as NR uplink/downlink, as defined in 3GPP TS 38.211. Sidelink communications may also support different numerologies with shorter slot times, e.g., for low latency requirements.

FIG. 3A, for example, illustrates a sidelink transmission structure 300 with PRS 301 from a single UE (e.g., UE0). Sidelink transmission structure 300 is an example of slot format for sidelink transmissions and may be the same or similar to the NR slot format for downlink and uplink transmissions. As illustrated, each slot in sidelink transmission structure 300 may include a physical sidelink shared channel (PSSCH) 304, a physical sidelink control channel (PSCCH) 306, an automatic gain control (AGC) 308 and guard (GAP) symbol 310. In some implementations, the sidelink transmission structure 300 may include additional or other channels, such as a Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel (PSBCH), Physical Sidelink Feedback Channel (PSFCH), Demodulation Reference Signals (DM-RS), etc. Each PSSCH 304 contains, e.g., user data traffic, and is associated with the PSCCH 306. The PSCCH 306 may be transmitted on the same slot as PSSCH 306 and contains control information, i.e., sidelink control information (SCI), which is split into two stages. The 1st stage is sent on PSCCH 306, which is associated with the PSSCH 304, and the 2nd stage is sent over the corresponding PSSCH 304. The SCI in the 1st stage, for example, may include control information for, among other things, priority, frequency and time resource assignment, and resource reservation period. The SCI in the 2nd-stage may include control information for, among other things, hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) process ID, new data indicator, redundancy version, source ID, and destination ID.

As illustrated in FIG. 3A, for positioning operations, the PRS 301 from a single UE may be included in one or more slots of the sidelink transmission structure 300, e.g., with the PRS 301 being transmitted with at least PSCCH 306 and possibly PSSCH 304.

FIG. 3B illustrates another sidelink transmission structure 320 with standalone PRS from a number of UEs. The standalone PRS from each UE, e.g., PRS0 321 from UE0, PRS1 323 from UE1, and PRS2 325 from UE2, for example, may be transmitted in multiple slots with no other signals.

FIG. 3C illustrates another sidelink transmission structure 340, similar to sidelink transmission structure 300 shown in FIG. 3A, but with transmission of PRS from multiple UEs. For example, PRS from each UE, e.g., PRS0 341 from UE0, PRS1 343 from UE1, and PRS2 345 from UE2 transmitted in multiple slots along with PSSCH 344, PSCCH 346, AGC 348, and guard (GAP) symbol 350.

FIG. 3D illustrates another sidelink transmission structure 360, similar to sidelink transmission structure 340 shown in FIG. 3C with transmission of PRS from multiple UEs. For example, PRS from each UE, e.g., PRS0 361 from UE0, PRS1 363 from UE1, PRS2 365 from UE2, and PRS3 367 from UE3 transmitted in multiple slots along with PSCCH 366, AGC 368, and guard (GAP) symbol 370.

Communication and data sidelink transmissions use prioritization for resource allocation. Thus, transmissions in sidelink have an associated priority value. The priority may be passed to the Physical (PHY) layer by an upper layer as part of Quality of Service (QoS) flow or (pre-)configured for some signals. The priority value may be provided in a priority field in the 1st stage SCI A lower numerical value in the priority field corresponds to a higher priority transmission.

The priority value is used as part of a resource selection procedure. For example, in an autonomous resource selection process, a UE may use a sensing procedure in which sensing takes place in a pre-configured resource pool. A resource pool in the frequency domain is divided into sub-channels that are consecutive and non-overlapping Physical Resource Blocks (PRB) where the number of PRBs is >10. The size of a resource pool may be configured by higher layers or through signaling by a gNB. Transmission and reception resource pools may be configured in a UE separately.

In the resource selection procedure, a UE selects resources for transmission if the resources are not in use by other UEs with higher priority traffic. The UE, for example, may perform continuous sensing and when a resource selection event is triggered (e.g. arrival of a transport block) in the UE, the UE may consider recent sensing results prior to the trigger time for resource selection. The UE performing sensing measures the RSRP, e.g., of the PSCCH or PSSCH. The RSRP measurement may be used to select appropriate resources and to avoid interference with existing communications. Different starting RSRP thresholds may be assigned to reservations of different priorities. Consequently, the UE may select resources overlapping with lower RSRP reservations before those overlapping with higher RSRP reservations.

The priority value may be used to determine when another UE's reservation might be preempted, e.g., if the priority of transmission in the UE is higher than the priority of the transmission of the UE. Priority value may also be used to determine to determine which operation to perform when NR sidelink operations conflict with LTE sidelink or uplink operations.

Currently, there is no mechanism related to the selection of resources for sidelink positioning transmissions or for performing prioritization for sidelink positioning operations.

Resource selection for sidelink positioning operations may be based on priority values. A priority value may be assigned to positioning operations, such as transmission or reception. The priority value, for example, may be (pre-)configured or provided to the PHY layer by higher layers. For PRS reception, the priority value may be either the same as the priority value for transmission or the priority value may be included in the PRS reservation. The transmitting UE may reserve resources for positioning operations via layer 1 (L1) (e.g., in the 1st stage SCI) or layer 2 (L2) (e.g., in the 2nd stage SCI) control messages. The transmitting UE may also use the non-preferred resource indication mechanism, as specified in Release 17 (Rel-17). If another entity, such as the initiator UE or a network entity (e.g., base station), also assigns resources for the responder UE(s), positioning resource sensing may consider such reservations.

When the UE selects resources for sidelink positioning operations, the UE excludes resources reserved by other UEs for positioning operations. If sidelink positioning-related transmissions are performed in the same resource pool as other (non-positioning related) sidelink transmissions, the resources reserved for the other sidelink operations may also be excluded.

A set of per-priority RSRP starting thresholds may be configured for sidelink PRS transmissions. The set may be different from the values configured for other (non-positioning related) sidelink transmissions.

The priority values for sidelink positioning operations may be used to resolve in-device conflicts. For example, when a UE cannot perform both a positioning-related sidelink operation and a non-positioning related sidelink operation, the UE may determine which operation to perform based on their respective priority values. The operation with lower priority (e.g., higher numerical priority value) may be dropped. When the priority values are equal, the determination of which operation to perform may be left up to UE implementation. In another example, when a UE cannot perform both a positioning-related sidelink operation and a non-sidelink (e.g. UL) operation, the UE may determine which operation to perform based on their respective priority values. A priority threshold could be (pre-)configured for the non-sidelink operations. In another example, when multiple positioning sidelink operations are overlapping and all cannot be performed, a UE may perform the positioning sidelink operation with the higher priority (e.g., lower numerical priority value).

FIG. 4 , by way of example, is a signal flow 400 illustrating a procedure and signaling between UEs 105A and 105B for supporting sidelink (SL) positioning using priority values as discussed herein. UEs 105A and 105B, for example, may be, e.g., the UEs illustrated in FIG. 1 . Additional UEs may be included in the signal flow as well.

As shown in FIG. 4 , in stage 1, the UE 105A assigns a priority value to a sidelink positioning operation, such as SL PRS transmission, SL PRS reception, or both. The priority value, for example, may be a pre-configured value or it may be received by a Physical layer (PHY) from a higher layer. The priority value may be represented as a numerical value with a lower numerical value corresponding to a higher priority.

In stage 2, the UE 105A selects resources for at least one SL positioning operation, e.g., SL PRS transmission, SL PRS reception, or both, based on the priority levels. The selection of the resources, for example, may include excluding resources reserved by another UE for a positioning operation. In some implementations, the selection of the resources may include excluding resources reserved for sidelink operations if SL PRS transmissions are reserved in a same resource pool as the resources reserved for the sidelink operations. In some implementations, the UE 105A may receive an assignment of resources for the UE from another UE, e.g., UE 105B, or from a network entity, such as a base station 110, and may select the resources for the at least one SL positioning operation based on the assignment of resources. In some implementations, the UE 105A may obtain a set of per-priority RSRP starting thresholds, which may also be used for selecting resources.

In stage 3, the UE 105A resolves any in-device conflicts for the sidelink positioning operation based at least partially on the priority values. For example, as discussed above, if the UE 105A determines that a non-positioning sidelink operation is to be performed on resources that partially or fully overlap with the resources selected for the at least one SL positioning operation, the UE 105A may determine to perform the at least one SL positioning operation or the non-positioning sidelink operation based on the respective priority values (dropping the operation with the lower priority value), e.g., if the non-positioning sidelink operation has a priority value. If the UE 105A determines that a non-SL positioning operation is to be performed on the resources selected for the at least one SL positioning operation, the UE 105A may determine to perform the at least one SL positioning operation or the non-SL positioning operation based on the respective priority values (dropping the operation with the lower priority value), e.g., if the non-SL positioning operation has a priority value (the priority threshold may be (pre-)configured for the non-sidelink operations. If the UE 105A determines a second SL positioning operation is to be performed on the resources selected for the at least one SL positioning operation, the UE 105A may determine to perform the at least one SL positioning operation or the second SL positioning operation based on respective priority values (dropping the operation with the lower priority value), e.g., if the second SL positioning operation has a priority value.

In stage 4, the UE 105A reserves resources for the SL positioning operation, e.g., SL PRS transmission, SL PRS reception, or both. The resources may be reserved using Layer 1 (L1) and/or Layer 2 (L2) control messages or higher layer messages. For example, the reservation of resource may include transmitting the priority value for the SL positioning operation in the 1st stage SCI (L1). If the SL positioning operation is SL PRS reception, the priority value may be either the same as the priority value for the SL PRS transmission or the priority value may be included in the PRS reservation. In some implementations, the UE 105A may reserve the resources for the positioning operations by transmitting an indication that other UEs are to avoid using the resources.

As illustrated at stage 5, the UE 105A may transmit the SL PRS on the reserved resources.

FIG. 5 shows a schematic block diagram illustrating certain exemplary features of a UE 500, e.g., which may be UE 105 shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 4 , configured for supporting sidelink positioning operations using priority values, as described herein. The UE 500, for example, may perform the signal flows 400 shown in FIG. 4 and the process flow 600, shown in FIG. 6 , and accompanying techniques as discussed herein. The UE 500 may include, for example, one or more processors 502, memory 504, an external interface such as at least one wireless transceivers (e.g., wireless network interface) illustrated as WWAN transceiver 510, WLAN transceiver 511, an Ultra-Wideband (UWB) transceiver 512 and a Bluetooth (BT) transceiver 513, SPS receiver 514, and one or more sensors 515, which may be operatively coupled with one or more connections 506 (e.g., buses, lines, fibers, links, etc.) to non-transitory computer readable medium 520 and memory 504. The SPS receiver 514, for example, may receive and process SPS signals from satellite vehicles 190 shown in FIG. 1 . The one or more sensors 515, for example, may be an inertial measurement unit (IMU) that may include one or more accelerometers, one or more gyroscopes, a magnetometer, etc. The UE 500 may further include additional items, which are not shown, such as a user interface that may include e.g., a display, a keypad or other input device, such as virtual keypad on the display, through which a user may interface with the UE. In certain example implementations, all or part of UE 500 may take the form of a chipset, and/or the like.

The UE 500 may include at least one wireless transceiver, such as wireless transceiver 510 for a WWAN communication system and wireless transceiver 511 for a WLAN communication system, UWB transceiver 512 for a UWB communication system, BT transceiver 513 for a Bluetooth communication system, or a combined transceiver for any of WWAN, WLAN, UWB, and BT. The WWAN transceiver 510 may include a transmitter 510 t and receiver 510 r coupled to one or more antennas 509 for transmitting (e.g., on one or more uplink channels and/or one or more sidelink channels) and/or receiving (e.g., on one or more downlink channels and/or one or more sidelink channels) wireless signals and transducing signals from the wireless signals to wired (e.g., electrical and/or optical) signals and from wired (e.g., electrical and/or optical) signals to the wireless signals. The WLAN transceiver 511 may include a transmitter 511 t and receiver 511 r coupled to one or more antennas 509 or to separate antennas, for transmitting (e.g., on one or more uplink channels and/or one or more sidelink channels) and/or receiving (e.g., on one or more downlink channels and/or one or more sidelink channels) wireless signals and transducing signals from the wireless signals to wired (e.g., electrical and/or optical) signals and from wired (e.g., electrical and/or optical) signals to the wireless signals. The UWB transceiver 512 may include a transmitter 512 t and receiver 512 r coupled to one or more antennas 509 or to separate antennas, for transmitting (e.g., on one or more uplink channels and/or one or more sidelink channels) and/or receiving (e.g., on one or more downlink channels and/or one or more sidelink channels) wireless signals and transducing signals from the wireless signals to wired (e.g., electrical and/or optical) signals and from wired (e.g., electrical and/or optical) signals to the wireless signals. The BT transceiver 513 may include a transmitter 513 t and receiver 513 r coupled to one or more antennas 509 or to separate antennas, for transmitting (e.g., on one or more uplink channels and/or one or more sidelink channels) and/or receiving (e.g., on one or more downlink channels and/or one or more sidelink channels) wireless signals and transducing signals from the wireless signals to wired (e.g., electrical and/or optical) signals and from wired (e.g., electrical and/or optical) signals to the wireless signals. The transmitters 510 t, 511 t, 512 t, and 513 t may include multiple transmitters that may be discrete components or combined/integrated components, and/or the receivers 510 r, 511 r, 512 r, and 513 r may include multiple receivers that may be discrete components or combined/integrated components. The WWAN transceiver 510 may be configured to communicate signals (e.g., with base stations and/or one or more other devices) according to a variety of radio access technologies (RATs) such as 5G New Radio (NR), GSM (Global System for Mobiles), UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System), AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), WCDMA (Wideband CDMA), LTE (Long-Term Evolution), LTE Direct (LTE-D), 3GPP LTE-V2X (PC5), etc. New Radio may use mm-wave frequencies and/or sub-6 GHz frequencies. The WLAN transceiver 511 may be configured to communicate signals (e.g., with access points and/or one or more other devices) according to a variety of radio access technologies (RATs) such as 3GPP LTE-V2X (PC5), IEEE 1102.11 (including IEEE 1102.11p), WiFi, WiFi Direct (WiFi-D), Zigbee etc. The UWB transceiver 512 may be configured to communicate signals (e.g., with access points and/or one or more other devices) according to a variety of radio access technologies (RATs) such as personal area network (PAN) including IEEE 802.15.3, IEEE 802.15.4, etc. The BT transceiver 513 may be configured to communicate signals (e.g., with access points and/or one or more other devices) according to a variety of radio access technologies (RATs) such as a Bluetooth network. The transceivers 510 511, 512, and 513 may be communicatively coupled to a transceiver interface, e.g., by optical and/or electrical connection, which may be at least partially integrated with the transceivers 510, 511, 512, 513.

In some embodiments, UE 500 may include antenna 509, which may be internal or external. UE antenna 509 may be used to transmit and/or receive signals processed by wireless transceivers 510, 511, 512, 513. In some embodiments, UE antenna 509 may be coupled to wireless transceivers 510, 511, 512, 513. In some embodiments, measurements of signals received (transmitted) by UE 500 may be performed at the point of connection of the UE antenna 509 and wireless transceivers 510, 511, 512, 513. For example, the measurement point of reference for received (transmitted) RF signal measurements may be an input (output) UE of the receiver 510 r (transmitter 510 t) and an output (input) UE of the UE antenna 509. In a UE 500 with multiple UE antennas 509 or antenna arrays, the antenna connector may be viewed as a virtual point representing the aggregate output (input) of multiple UE antennas.

The one or more processors 502 may be implemented using a combination of hardware, firmware, and software. For example, the one or more processors 502 may be configured to with an architecture for sidelink positioning and ranging services as described in FIGS. 11A and 11B. The one or more processors 502, for example, may be configured with an architecture that includes an upper layer, a ranging support layer comprising one or more ranging support elements for supporting sidelink positioning and ranging with one or more other UEs, the one or more ranging support elements providing services to the upper layer, and at least one lower layer, wherein the one or more ranging support elements communicate with corresponding one or more ranging support elements of a ranging support layer in the one or more other UEs through the at least one lower layer, e.g., using the one of transceivers 510-1213. The one or more processors 502 may be configured to perform the functions discussed herein by implementing one or more instructions or program code 508 on a non-transitory computer readable medium, such as medium 520 and/or memory 504. In some embodiments, the one or more processors 502 may represent one or more circuits configurable to perform at least a portion of a data signal computing procedure or process related to the operation of UE 500.

The medium 520 and/or memory 504 may store instructions or program code 508 that contain executable code or software instructions that when executed by the one or more processors 502 cause the one or more processors 502 to operate as a special purpose computer programmed to perform the techniques disclosed herein. As illustrated in UE 500, the medium 520 and/or memory 504 may include one or more components or modules that may be implemented by the one or more processors 502 to perform the methodologies described herein. While the components or modules are illustrated as software in medium 520 that is executable by the one or more processors 502, it should be understood that the components or modules may be stored in memory 504 or may be dedicated hardware either in the one or more processors 502 or off the processors.

A number of software modules and data tables may reside in the medium 520 and/or memory 504 and be utilized by the one or more processors 502 in order to manage both communications and the functionality described herein. It should be appreciated that the organization of the contents of the medium 520 and/or memory 504 as shown in UE 500 is merely exemplary, and as such the functionality of the modules and/or data structures may be combined, separated, and/or be structured in different ways depending upon the implementation of the UE 500.

The medium 520 and/or memory 504 may include a priority value module 522 that when implemented by the one or more processors 502 configures the one or more processors 502 to assign priority values to SL positioning operations, such as SL PRS transmission or SL PRS reception. The priority values may be pre-configured values or it may be received by the PHY layer from a higher layer.

The medium 520 and/or memory 504 may include a resource selection module 524 that when implemented by the one or more processors 502 configures the one or more processors 502 to select resources for SL positioning operations based on at least the priority values. The one or more processors 502 may be further configured, for example, to select the resources for the SL positioning operations by excluding resources reserved by another UE for a positioning operation. The one or more processors 502 may be further configured, for example, to select the resources for SL positioning operations by excluding resources reserved for sidelink operations if SL PRS transmissions are reserved in a same resource pool as the resources reserved for the sidelink operations. The one or more processors 502 may be configured to receive, e.g., via the transceivers 510-513, an assignment of resources for the UE from another UE or from a network entity, and to select the resources for the at least one SL positioning operation further based on the assignment of resources. The one or more processors 502 may be further configured to obtain a set of per-priority RSRP starting thresholds, and to use the per-priority RSRP starting thresholds to select resources for SL positioning operations.

The medium 520 and/or memory 504 may include a resource reservation module 526 that when implemented by the one or more processors 502 configures the one or more processors 502 to reserve the resources for the positioning operations, e.g., by transmitting L1 and/or L2 control messages via the transceivers 510-513. The resource reservation may include the priority value. If the SL positioning operation includes SL PRS reception, the resource reservation may include an indication of the priority value for the SL PRS reception. The one or more processors 502 may be configured to reserve the resources for the positioning operations by transmitting, via the transceivers 510-513, an indication that other UEs are to avoid using the resources.

The methodologies described herein may be implemented by various means depending upon the application. For example, these methodologies may be implemented in hardware, firmware, software, or any combination thereof. For a hardware implementation, the one or more processors 502 may be implemented within one or more application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), digital signal processors (DSPs), digital signal processing devices (DSPDs), programmable logic devices (PLDs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), processors, controllers, micro-controllers, microprocessors, electronic devices, other electronic units designed to perform the functions described herein, or a combination thereof.

For a firmware and/or software implementation, the methodologies may be implemented with modules (e.g., procedures, functions, and so on) that perform the functions described herein. Any machine readable medium tangibly embodying instructions may be used in implementing the methodologies described herein. For example, software codes may be stored in a non-transitory computer readable medium 520 or memory 504 that is connected to and executed by the one or more processors 502. Memory may be implemented within the one or more processors or external to the one or more processors. As used herein the term “memory” refers to any type of long term, short term, volatile, nonvolatile, or other memory and is not to be limited to any particular type of memory or number of memories, or type of media upon which memory is stored.

If implemented in firmware and/or software, the functions may be stored as one or more instructions or program code 508 on a non-transitory computer readable medium, such as medium 520 and/or memory 504. Examples include computer readable media encoded with a data structure and computer readable media encoded with a computer program code 508. For example, the non-transitory computer readable medium including program code 508 stored thereon may include program code 508 to support sidelink positioning using priority values in a manner consistent with disclosed embodiments. Non-transitory computer readable medium 520 includes physical computer storage media. A storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such non-transitory computer readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to store desired program code 508 in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer; disk and disc, as used herein, includes compact disc (CD), laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD), floppy disk and Blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer readable media.

In addition to storage on computer readable medium 520, instructions and/or data may be provided as signals on transmission media included in a communication apparatus. For example, a communication apparatus may include an external interface including one or more of wireless transceivers 510, 511, 512, and 513 having signals indicative of instructions and data. The instructions and data are configured to cause one or more processors to implement the functions outlined in the claims. That is, the communication apparatus includes transmission media with signals indicative of information to perform disclosed functions.

Memory 504 may represent any data storage mechanism. Memory 504 may include, for example, a primary memory and/or a secondary memory. Primary memory may include, for example, a random access memory, read only memory, etc. While illustrated in this example as being separate from one or more processors 502, it should be understood that all or part of a primary memory may be provided within or otherwise co-located/coupled with the one or more processors 502. Secondary memory may include, for example, the same or similar type of memory as primary memory and/or one or more data storage devices or systems, such as, for example, a disk drive, an optical disc drive, a tape drive, a solid state memory drive, etc.

In certain implementations, secondary memory may be operatively receptive of, or otherwise configurable to couple to a non-transitory computer readable medium 520. As such, in certain example implementations, the methods and/or apparatuses presented herein may take the form in whole or part of a computer readable medium 520 that may include computer implementable program code 508 stored thereon, which if executed by one or more processors 502 may be operatively enabled to perform all or portions of the example operations as described herein. Computer readable medium 520 may be a part of memory 504.

FIG. 6 shows a flowchart for an exemplary method 600, e.g., performed by a UE such as UE 105 or UE 500 in FIGS. 1, 4, and 5 , for supporting sidelink (SL) positioning, e.g., using priority values in a manner consistent with disclosed implementations.

At block 602, the UE assigns a priority value for at least one SL positioning operation, e.g., as discussed in stage 1 of FIG. 4 . The priority value, for example, may be a pre-configured value or it may be received by a Physical layer (PHY) from a higher layer. A means for assigning a priority value for at least one SL positioning operation may include, e.g., one or more processors 502 configured with dedicated hardware or implementing executable code or software instructions in memory 504 and/or medium 520, such as the priority value module 522 of UE 500.

At block 604, the UE selects resources for the at least one SL positioning operation based on the priority value, e.g., as discussed in stage 2 of FIG. 4 . A means for selecting resources for the at least one SL positioning operation based on the priority value may include, e.g., one or more processors 502 configured with dedicated hardware or implementing executable code or software instructions in memory 504 and/or medium 520, such as the resource selection module 524 of UE 500.

At block 606, the UE reserves the resources for the p at least one SL positioning operation, e.g., as discussed in stage 4 of FIG. 4 . For example, the UE may perform the reservation of the resources for the at least one SL positioning operation using Layer 1 (L1) or Layer 2 (L2) control messages or higher layer messages. A means for reserving the resources for the at least one SL positioning operation may include, e.g., one of transceivers 510-513 and one or more processors 502 configured with dedicated hardware or implementing executable code or software instructions in memory 504 and/or medium 520, such as the resource reservation module 526 of UE 500.

In one implementation, the at least one SL positioning operation may be at least one of SL positioning reference signal (PRS) transmission or SL PRS reception. The priority value for the SL PRS reception, for example, may be a same value as the priority value for the SL PRS transmission or the UE may reserve the resources for the at least one SL positioning operation by providing an indication of the priority value for the SL PRS reception, e.g., as discussed in stage 4 of FIG. 4 . A means for providing an indication of the priority value for the SL PRS reception may include, e.g., one of transceivers 510-513 and one or more processors 502 configured with dedicated hardware or implementing executable code or software instructions in memory 504 and/or medium 520, such as the resource reservation module 526 of UE 500.

In one implementation, the UE may select the resources for the at least one SL positioning operation based on the priority value by excluding resources reserved by another UE for a positioning operation, e.g., as discussed in stage 2 of FIG. 4 . A means for excluding resources reserved by another UE for a positioning operation may include, e.g., one or more processors 502 configured with dedicated hardware or implementing executable code or software instructions in memory 504 and/or medium 520, such as the resource selection module 524 of UE 500.

In one implementation, the UE may select the resources for the at least one SL positioning operation based on the priority value by excluding resources reserved for sidelink operations if SL PRS transmissions are reserved in a same resource pool as the resources reserved for the sidelink operations, e.g., as discussed in stage 2 of FIG. 4 . A means for excluding resources reserved for sidelink operations if SL PRS transmissions are reserved in a same resource pool as the resources reserved for the sidelink operations may include, e.g., one or more processors 502 configured with dedicated hardware or implementing executable code or software instructions in memory 504 and/or medium 520, such as the resource selection module 524 of UE 500.

In one implementation, the UE may further receive an assignment of resources for the UE from another UE or a network entity, and selecting the resources for the at least one SL positioning operation is further based on the assignment of resources, e.g., as discussed in stage 2 of FIG. 4 . A means for receiving an assignment of resources for the UE from another UE or a network entity may include, e.g., one of transceivers 510-513 and one or more processors 502 configured with dedicated hardware or implementing executable code or software instructions in memory 504 and/or medium 520, such as the resource selection module 524 of UE 500.

In one implementation, the UE may further obtain a set of per-priority reference signal received power (RSRP) starting thresholds, wherein selecting the resources for the at least one SL positioning operation is further based on the set of per-priority RSRP starting thresholds, e.g., as discussed in stage 2 of FIG. 4 . A means for obtaining a set of per-priority reference signal received power (RSRP) starting thresholds may include, e.g., one of transceivers 510-513 and one or more processors 502 configured with dedicated hardware or implementing executable code or software instructions in memory 504 and/or medium 520, such as the resource selection module 524 of UE 500.

In one implementation, the UE may reserve the resources for the at least one SL positioning operation by transmitting an indication that other UEs are to avoid using the resources, e.g., as discussed in stage 4 of FIG. 4 . A means for transmitting an indication that other UEs are to avoid using the resources may include, e.g., one of transceivers 510-513 and one or more processors 502 configured with dedicated hardware or implementing executable code or software instructions in memory 504 and/or medium 520, such as the resource reservation module 526 of UE 500.

In one implementation, the UE may further determine a non-positioning sidelink operation to be performed on resources partially or fully overlapping with the resources selected for the at least one SL positioning operation, wherein the non-positioning sidelink operation has a priority value, e.g., as discussed in stage 3 of FIG. 4 . The UE may determine to perform the at least one SL positioning operation or the non-positioning sidelink operation based on priority value, e.g., as discussed in stage 3 of FIG. 4 . A means for determining a non-positioning sidelink operation to be performed on resources partially or fully overlapping with the resources selected for the at least one SL positioning operation, wherein the non-positioning sidelink operation has a priority value may include, e.g., one or more processors 502 configured with dedicated hardware or implementing executable code or software instructions in memory 504 and/or medium 520, such as the in-device conflict module 528 of UE 500. A means for determining to perform the at least one SL positioning operation or the non-positioning sidelink operation based on priority value may include, e.g., one or more processors 502 configured with dedicated hardware or implementing executable code or software instructions in memory 504 and/or medium 520, such as the in-device conflict module 528 of UE 500.

In one implementation, the UE may further determine a non-SL positioning operation to be performed on the resources selected for the at least one SL positioning operation, wherein the non-SL positioning operation has a priority value, e.g., as discussed in stage 3 of FIG. 4 . The UE may determine to perform the at least one SL positioning operation or the non-SL positioning operation based on higher priority value, e.g., as discussed in stage 3 of FIG. 4 . A means for determining a non-SL positioning operation to be performed on the resources selected for the at least one SL positioning operation, wherein the non-SL positioning operation has a priority value may include, e.g., one or more processors 502 configured with dedicated hardware or implementing executable code or software instructions in memory 504 and/or medium 520, such as the in-device conflict module 528 of UE 500. A means for determining to perform the at least one SL positioning operation or the non-SL positioning operation based on higher priority value may include, e.g., one or more processors 502 configured with dedicated hardware or implementing executable code or software instructions in memory 504 and/or medium 520, such as the in-device conflict module 528 of UE 500.

In one implementation, the UE determines a second SL positioning operation to be performed on the resources selected for the at least one SL positioning operation, wherein the second SL positioning operation has a priority value, e.g., as discussed in stage 3 of FIG. 4 . The UE may determine to perform the at least one SL positioning operation or the second SL positioning operation based on higher priority value, e.g., as discussed in stage 3 of FIG. 4 . A means for determining second SL positioning operation to be performed on the resources selected for the at least one SL positioning operation, wherein the second SL positioning operation has a priority value may include, e.g., one or more processors 502 configured with dedicated hardware or implementing executable code or software instructions in memory 504 and/or medium 520, such as the in-device conflict module 528 of UE 500. A means for determining to perform the at least one SL positioning operation or the second SL positioning operation based on higher priority value may include, e.g., one or more processors 502 configured with dedicated hardware or implementing executable code or software instructions in memory 504 and/or medium 520, such as the in-device conflict module 528 of UE 500.

Substantial variations may be made in accordance with specific desires. For example, customized hardware might also be used, and/or particular elements might be implemented in hardware, software (including portable software, such as applets, etc.), or both. Further, connection to other computing devices such as network input/output devices may be employed.

Configurations may be described as a process which is depicted as a flow diagram or block diagram. Although each may describe the operations as a sequential process, many of the operations can be performed in parallel or concurrently. In addition, the order of the operations may be rearranged. A process may have additional steps not included in the figure. Furthermore, examples of the methods may be implemented by hardware, software, firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description languages, or any combination thereof. When implemented in software, firmware, middleware, or microcode, the program code or code segments to perform the necessary tasks may be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable medium such as a storage medium. Processors may perform the described tasks.

Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly or conventionally understood. As used herein, the articles “a” and “an” refer to one or to more than one (i.e., to at least one) of the grammatical object of the article. By way of example, “an element” means one element or more than one element. “About” and/or “approximately” as used herein when referring to a measurable value such as an amount, a temporal duration, and the like, encompasses variations of ±20% or ±10%, ±5%, or +0.1% from the specified value, as such variations are appropriate in the context of the systems, devices, circuits, methods, and other implementations described herein. “Substantially” as used herein when referring to a measurable value such as an amount, a temporal duration, a physical attribute (such as frequency), and the like, also encompasses variations of ±20% or ±10%, ±5%, or +0.1% from the specified value, as such variations are appropriate in the context of the systems, devices, circuits, methods, and other implementations described herein.

As used herein, including in the claims, “or” as used in a list of items prefaced by “at least one of” or “one or more of” indicates a disjunctive list such that, for example, a list of “at least one of A, B, or C” means A or B or C or AB or AC or BC or ABC (i.e., A and B and C), or combinations with more than one feature (e.g., AA, AAB, ABBC, etc.). Also, as used herein, unless otherwise stated, a statement that a function or operation is “based on” an item or condition means that the function or operation is based on the stated item or condition and may be based on one or more items and/or conditions in addition to the stated item or condition.

While some of the techniques, processes, and/or implementations presented herein may comply with all or part of one or more standards, such techniques, processes, and/or implementations may not, in some embodiments, comply with part or all of such one or more standards.

In view of this description embodiments may include different combinations of features. Implementation examples are described in the following numbered clauses:

-   -   Clause 1. A method for supporting sidelink (SL) positioning         performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: assigning a         priority value for at least one SL positioning operation;         selecting resources for the at least one SL positioning         operation based on the priority value; and reserving the         resources for the at least one SL positioning operation.     -   Clause 2. The method of clause 1, wherein the priority value is         a pre-configured value or is received by a Physical layer (PHY)         from a higher layer.     -   Clause 3. The method of any of clauses 1-2, wherein the at least         one SL positioning operation comprises at least one of SL         positioning reference signal (PRS) transmission or SL PRS         reception.     -   Clause 4. The method of clause 3, wherein the priority value for         the SL PRS reception is a same value as the priority value for         the SL PRS transmission or the method further comprises         providing an indication of the priority value for the SL PRS         reception.     -   Clause 5. The method of any of clauses 1-4, wherein selecting         the resources for the at least one SL positioning operation         based on the priority value comprises excluding resources         reserved by another UE for a positioning operation.     -   Clause 6. The method of any of clauses 1-5, wherein selecting         the resources for the at least one SL positioning operation         based on the priority value comprises excluding resources         reserved for sidelink operations if SL PRS transmissions are         reserved in a same resource pool as the resources reserved for         the sidelink operations.     -   Clause 7. The method of any of clauses 1-6, further comprising         receiving an assignment of resources for the UE from another UE         or a network entity, wherein selecting the resources for the at         least one SL positioning operation is further based on the         assignment of resources.     -   Clause 8. The method of any of clauses 1-7, further comprising         obtaining a set of per-priority reference signal received power         (RSRP) starting thresholds, wherein selecting the resources for         the at least one SL positioning operation is further based on         the set of per-priority RSRP starting thresholds.     -   Clause 9. The method of any of clauses 1-8, wherein reserving         the resources for the at least one SL positioning operation is         performed using Layer 1 (L1) or Layer 2 (L2) control messages or         higher layer messages.     -   Clause 10. The method of any of clauses 1-9, wherein reserving         the resources for the at least one SL positioning operation         comprises transmitting an indication that other UEs are to avoid         using the resources.     -   Clause 11. The method of any of clauses 1-10, further         comprising: determining a non-positioning sidelink operation to         be performed on resources partially or fully overlapping with         the resources selected for the at least one SL positioning         operation, wherein the non-positioning sidelink operation has a         priority value; and determining to perform the at least one SL         positioning operation or the non-positioning sidelink operation         based on priority value.     -   Clause 12. The method of any of clauses 1-11, further         comprising: determining a non-SL positioning operation to be         performed on the resources selected for the at least one SL         positioning operation, wherein the non-SL positioning operation         has a priority value; and determining to perform the at least         one SL positioning operation or the non-SL positioning operation         based on higher priority value.     -   Clause 13. The method of any of clauses 1-12, further         comprising: determining second SL positioning operation to be         performed on the resources selected for the at least one SL         positioning operation, wherein the second SL positioning         operation has a priority value; and determining to perform the         at least one SL positioning operation or the second SL         positioning operation based on higher priority value.     -   Clause 14. A user equipment (UE) configured for supporting         sidelink (SL) positioning performed, comprising: a wireless         transceiver configured to wirelessly communicate with network         entities; at least one memory; and at least one processor         coupled to the wireless transceiver and the at least one memory,         the at least one processor configured to: assign a priority         value for at least one SL positioning operation; select         resources for the at least one SL positioning operation based on         the priority value; and reserve the resources for the at least         one SL positioning operation via the wireless transceiver.     -   Clause 15. The UE of clause 14, wherein the priority value is a         pre-configured value or is received by a Physical layer (PHY)         from a higher layer.     -   Clause 16. The UE of any of clauses 14-15, wherein the at least         one SL positioning operation comprises at least one of SL         positioning reference signal (PRS) transmission or SL PRS         reception.     -   Clause 17. The UE of clause 16, wherein the priority value for         the SL PRS reception is a same value as the priority value for         the SL PRS transmission or the at least one processor is further         configured to provide an indication of the priority value for         the SL PRS reception.     -   Clause 18. The UE of any of clauses 14-17, wherein the at least         one processor is configured to select the resources for the at         least one SL positioning operation based on the priority value         by being configured to exclude resources reserved by another UE         for a positioning operation.     -   Clause 19. The UE of any of clauses 14-18, wherein the at least         one processor is configured to select the resources for the at         least one SL positioning operation based on the priority value         by being configured to exclude resources reserved for sidelink         operations if SL PRS transmissions are reserved in a same         resource pool as the resources reserved for the sidelink         operations.     -   Clause 20. The UE of any of clauses 14-19, wherein the at least         one processor is further configured to receive an assignment of         resources for the UE from another UE or a network entity,         wherein the at least one processor is configured to select the         resources for the at least one SL positioning operation further         based on the assignment of resources.     -   Clause 21. The UE of any of clauses 14-20, wherein the at least         one processor is configured to obtain a set of per-priority         reference signal received power (RSRP) starting thresholds,         wherein the at least one processor is configured to select the         resources for the at least one SL positioning operation further         based on the set of per-priority RSRP starting thresholds.     -   Clause 22. The UE of any of clauses 14-21, wherein the at least         one processor is configured to reserve the resources for the at         least one SL positioning operation using Layer 1 (L1) or Layer 2         (L2) control messages or higher layer messages.     -   Clause 23. The UE of any of clauses 14-22, wherein the at least         one processor is configured to reserve the resources for the at         least one SL positioning operation by configured to transmit an         indication that other UEs are to avoid using the resources.     -   Clause 24. The UE of any of clauses 14-23, wherein the at least         one processor is further configured to: determine a         non-positioning sidelink operation to be performed on resources         partially or fully overlapping with the resources selected for         the at least one SL positioning operation, wherein the         non-positioning sidelink operation has a priority value; and         determine to perform the at least one SL positioning operation         or the non-positioning sidelink operation based on priority         value.     -   Clause 25. The UE of any of clauses 14-24, wherein the at least         one processor is further configured to: determine a non-SL         positioning operation to be performed on the resources selected         for the at least one SL positioning operation, wherein the         non-SL positioning operation has a priority value; and determine         to perform the at least one SL positioning operation or the         non-SL positioning operation based on higher priority value.     -   Clause 26. The UE of any of clauses 14-25, wherein the at least         one processor is further configured to: determine second SL         positioning operation to be performed on the resources selected         for the at least one SL positioning operation, wherein the         second SL positioning operation has a priority value; and         determine to perform the at least one SL positioning operation         or the second SL positioning operation based on higher priority         value.     -   Clause 27. A user equipment (UE) configured for supporting         sidelink (SL) positioning performed, comprising: means for         assigning a priority value for at least one SL positioning         operation; means for selecting resources for the at least one SL         positioning operation based on the priority value; and means for         reserving the resources for the at least one SL positioning         operation.     -   Clause 28. A non-transitory storage medium including program         code stored thereon, the program code is operable to configure         at least one processor in a user equipment (UE) for supporting         sidelink (SL) positioning performed, the program code comprising         instructions to: assign a priority value for at least one SL         positioning operation; select resources for the at least one SL         positioning operation based on the priority value; and reserve         the resources for the at least one SL positioning operation.

Although particular embodiments have been disclosed herein in detail, this has been done by way of example for purposes of illustration only, and is not intended to be limiting with respect to the scope of the appended claims, which follow. In particular, it is contemplated that various substitutions, alterations, and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the claims. Other aspects, advantages, and modifications are considered to be within the scope of the following claims. The claims presented are representative of the embodiments and features disclosed herein. Other unclaimed embodiments and features are also contemplated. Accordingly, other embodiments are within the scope of the following claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for supporting sidelink (SL) positioning performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: assigning a priority value for at least one SL positioning operation; selecting resources for the at least one SL positioning operation based on the priority value; and reserving the resources for the at least one SL positioning operation.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the priority value is a pre-configured value or is received by a Physical layer (PHY) from a higher layer.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one SL positioning operation comprises at least one of SL positioning reference signal (PRS) transmission or SL PRS reception.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the priority value for the SL PRS reception is a same value as the priority value for the SL PRS transmission or the method further comprises providing an indication of the priority value for the SL PRS reception.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the resources for the at least one SL positioning operation based on the priority value comprises excluding resources reserved by another UE for a positioning operation.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the resources for the at least one SL positioning operation based on the priority value comprises excluding resources reserved for sidelink operations if SL PRS transmissions are reserved in a same resource pool as the resources reserved for the sidelink operations.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving an assignment of resources for the UE from another UE or a network entity, wherein selecting the resources for the at least one SL positioning operation is further based on the assignment of resources.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising obtaining a set of per-priority reference signal received power (RSRP) starting thresholds, wherein selecting the resources for the at least one SL positioning operation is further based on the set of per-priority RSRP starting thresholds.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein reserving the resources for the at least one SL positioning operation is performed using Layer 1 (L1) or Layer 2 (L2) control messages or higher layer messages.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein reserving the resources for the at least one SL positioning operation comprises transmitting an indication that other UEs are to avoid using the resources.
 11. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining a non-positioning sidelink operation to be performed on resources partially or fully overlapping with the resources selected for the at least one SL positioning operation, wherein the non-positioning sidelink operation has a priority value; and determining to perform the at least one SL positioning operation or the non-positioning sidelink operation based on priority value.
 12. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining a non-SL positioning operation to be performed on the resources selected for the at least one SL positioning operation, wherein the non-SL positioning operation has a priority value; and determining to perform the at least one SL positioning operation or the non-SL positioning operation based on higher priority value.
 13. The method of claim 1, further comprising: determining second SL positioning operation to be performed on the resources selected for the at least one SL positioning operation, wherein the second SL positioning operation has a priority value; and determining to perform the at least one SL positioning operation or the second SL positioning operation based on higher priority value.
 14. A user equipment (UE) configured for supporting sidelink (SL) positioning performed, comprising: a wireless transceiver configured to wirelessly communicate with network entities; at least one memory; and at least one processor coupled to the wireless transceiver and the at least one memory, the at least one processor configured to: assign a priority value for at least one SL positioning operation; select resources for the at least one SL positioning operation based on the priority value; and reserve the resources for the at least one SL positioning operation via the wireless transceiver.
 15. The UE of claim 14, wherein the priority value is a pre-configured value or is received by a Physical layer (PHY) from a higher layer.
 16. The UE of claim 14, wherein the at least one SL positioning operation comprises at least one of SL positioning reference signal (PRS) transmission or SL PRS reception.
 17. The UE of claim 16, wherein the priority value for the SL PRS reception is a same value as the priority value for the SL PRS transmission or the at least one processor is further configured to provide an indication of the priority value for the SL PRS reception.
 18. The UE of claim 14, wherein the at least one processor is configured to select the resources for the at least one SL positioning operation based on the priority value by being configured to exclude resources reserved by another UE for a positioning operation.
 19. The UE of claim 14, wherein the at least one processor is configured to select the resources for the at least one SL positioning operation based on the priority value by being configured to exclude resources reserved for sidelink operations if SL PRS transmissions are reserved in a same resource pool as the resources reserved for the sidelink operations.
 20. The UE of claim 14, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to receive an assignment of resources for the UE from another UE or a network entity, wherein the at least one processor is configured to select the resources for the at least one SL positioning operation further based on the assignment of resources.
 21. The UE of claim 14, wherein the at least one processor is configured to obtain a set of per-priority reference signal received power (RSRP) starting thresholds, wherein the at least one processor is configured to select the resources for the at least one SL positioning operation further based on the set of per-priority RSRP starting thresholds.
 22. The UE of claim 14, wherein the at least one processor is configured to reserve the resources for the at least one SL positioning operation using Layer 1 (L1) or Layer 2 (L2) control messages or higher layer messages.
 23. The UE of claim 14, wherein the at least one processor is configured to reserve the resources for the at least one SL positioning operation by configured to transmit an indication that other UEs are to avoid using the resources.
 24. The UE of claim 14, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: determine a non-positioning sidelink operation to be performed on resources partially or fully overlapping with the resources selected for the at least one SL positioning operation, wherein the non-positioning sidelink operation has a priority value; and determine to perform the at least one SL positioning operation or the non-positioning sidelink operation based on priority value.
 25. The UE of claim 14, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: determine a non-SL positioning operation to be performed on the resources selected for the at least one SL positioning operation, wherein the non-SL positioning operation has a priority value; and determine to perform the at least one SL positioning operation or the non-SL positioning operation based on higher priority value.
 26. The UE of claim 14, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to: determine second SL positioning operation to be performed on the resources selected for the at least one SL positioning operation, wherein the second SL positioning operation has a priority value; and determine to perform the at least one SL positioning operation or the second SL positioning operation based on higher priority value.
 27. A user equipment (UE) configured for supporting sidelink (SL) positioning performed, comprising: means for assigning a priority value for at least one SL positioning operation; means for selecting resources for the at least one SL positioning operation based on the priority value; and means for reserving the resources for the at least one SL positioning operation.
 28. A non-transitory storage medium including program code stored thereon, the program code is operable to configure at least one processor in a user equipment (UE) for supporting sidelink (SL) positioning performed, the program code comprising instructions to: assign a priority value for at least one SL positioning operation; select resources for the at least one SL positioning operation based on the priority value; and reserve the resources for the at least one SL positioning operation. 